Part 1: Authors and their contribution
Chapter 1: Colonial Beginnings (Early 1600s)
1. Thomas Hariot – A Briefe and True Report of the New-Found Land of Virginia
2. William Bradford – Plymouth Plantation (Puritan history book)
3. Increase Mather – Remarkable Providence (psychological environment of the time, leader of
New England theocracy)
4. Cotton Mather – The Angel of Bethesda (called the most useful book in the world)
5. Edward Taylor – The Poetry of Edward Taylor (finest poetry in America, focused on inner
spiritual life)
6. William Byrd – History of the Dividing Line (held liberal views on Native Americans and
Black people, said: “we all know that very bright talents may be loaded under dark skin”)
7. Anne Bradstreet – First real New England poet
Chapter 2: The Birth of a Nation
8. Benjamin Franklin – Almanac, The Way to Wealth (bestseller, disliked poetry, invented the
hoax/tall tale)
9. James Otis – A propagandist who used violent language more than reason in his attacks on
British politics
10. Thomas Paine – Common Sense (most historically important pamphlet in America)
11. Thomas Jefferson – Notes on the State of Virginia (influenced by Enlightenment ideas,
believed that man did not have to depend on God to improve the world and could use his own
wisdom to improve himself)
12. John Trumbull – Best satirical writer
13. Thomas Godfrey – Prince of Parthia (first American play)
14. Timothy Dwight – Believed America was a land of happiness while Europe was a land of
poverty and war
15. Royal Tyler – The Contrast (first American comedy)
16. John Adams – Second U.S. President
Chapter 3: The Rise of a National Literature
17. William Brown – The Power of Sympathy (first American novel)
18. Charles Brown – Interested in psychological horror
19. James Fenimore Cooper – Called “The American Walter Scott,” interested in individualism,
disliked the old neoclassical style
20. William Gilmore Simms – Believed that “it is the artist only who is the true historian,” wrote
about Indian society as a whole
21. Washington Irving – Considered feeling and language more important in his art than story or
character
Chapter 4: An American Renaissance
22. Henry David Thoreau – Anti-slavery activist, his home became a meeting place for
reformers, said: “Wisdom does not inspect, it beholds.”
23. Ralph Waldo Emerson – Founder of the Transcendental Club, known for poetry and
philosophy, said: “My life has been the poem I would write, but I could not both live and utter
it.”
24. Louisa May Alcott – Woman in the 19th Century
25. Herman Melville – Moby-Dick (greatest American novel)
26. Edgar Allan Poe – The Fall of the House of Usher (best tale), Seaman’s Friend (standard
work on the law of the sea), contributed to short stories, detective fiction, literary criticism,
believed poetry should focus on “Pleasure, not truth.”
Chapter 8: At the Turn of the Century
27. Henry Adams – Democracy (satire on political/social life), The Education of Henry Adams
28. Jack London – Called a “superman hero”
29. Thorstein Veblen – The Theory of the Leisure Class (criticized capitalism, said the economic
system “encourages competition and making money rather than making products.” and that the
wealthy “buy expensive things in order to show other people how much they are.”)
30. Lincoln Steffens – Investigative journalist, said “the struggle for existence is very animal-
like.”
31. Upton Sinclair – Most famous of the Muckrakers (journalists exposing corruption)
32. Lafcadio Hearn – Predicted conflict between Japan and the West, a critic said about him: “He
is the only writer in our language who can be compared with Hans Christian Andersen.”
33. Friedrich Nietzsche – Said each person has a “will to power.”
34. H.L. Mencken – Powerful social critic, praised Jack London’s work for “all the elements of
sound fiction—clear thinking, a sense of character, the dramatic instinct, and words charming
and slyly significant.”
35. O. Henry – A Municipal Report (praised as greatest American short story)
Chapter 9: The Turning Point of American Literature
36. Van Wyck Brooks – America’s Coming of Age, introduced self-criticism in literature, said
literary criticism would “sooner or later become social criticism, the future of our arts and
literature depends upon the complete reconstruction of social life.”
37. Edith Wharton – Psychological novels about upper-class women
38. Theodore Dreiser – His common theme in his novels was the purposelessness of life
39. Henry James – Psychological novels
40. Willa Cather – Focused on emotional life in novels, not social criticism
41. Ellen Glasgow – Examined problems of change
42. Edgar Lee Masters – Started the “Revolt from the Village” movement
43. Sherwood Anderson – Influenced younger writers, called “The father of my generation of
writers” and “the only man in America who ever taught me anything.”
44. H.L. Mencken – Social critic in the 20s, disliked the middle class
Chapter 10: Poetry from 1900–1930s
45. Edwin Arlington Robinson – Used 19th-century poetic forms to express 20th-century modern
fears, believed man’s fate is wrapped in the “black and awful chaos of the night.”
46. Robert Frost – Saw “aloneness” as a central theme, disliked free verse, said: “A good poem
begins in delight and ends in wisdom.”
47. Robinson Jeffers – Used free verse to criticize the human race
48. Gertrude Stein – Modernist writer, focused on direct reality, said: “Things seem to speak
directly and immediately.”
49. T.S. Eliot – Traditionalist poet
50. Ezra Pound – Traditionalist poet
51. Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) – Important Imagist poet
52. Amy Lowell – Important Imagist poet
53. Marianne Moore – Loved unusual subjects, anti-poetic spirit
54. Wallace Stevens – Central theme was imagination
55. Archibald MacLeish – Used ancient myths in new ways
56. Edna St. Vincent Millay – Voice of social rebellion in the jazz age of the 20s
57. Elinor Wylie – Known for “small clean technique”
58. Vachel Lindsay – Hoped to restore the American Dream and America’s original purity, but
no one listened to his message
Part 2 : Other information
Chapter 1: Colonial Beginnings (Early 1600s)
• The first English colony: Jamestown
• The earliest writers were Englishmen describing America
• The first famous tale: The General Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles
• The first college: Harvard (near Boston)
• The most interesting works of New England Puritan literature are historical
• Plymouth Plantation is a key book of Puritan history
• Puritan writers avoided elegant language
• The first Puritans were not democratic
• The leader of New England theocracy: Increase Mather
• The themes of Puritan writing were religious
• Puritan writers moved away from the old plain style
• Richard Mather was the founder of his family in America
• Cotton Mather called his style “a cloth of gold,” but ordinary people found it hard to read
• Anne Bradstreet was the first real New England poet
• Edward Taylor focused on the inner spiritual life of Puritan believers
• William Byrd had liberal opinions about Native Americans and believed the English should
marry them rather than fight them. He also had a liberal view of Black people, saying: “We all
know that very bright talents may be loaded under dark skin.”
Chapter 2: The Birth of a Nation
• Enlightenment thinkers’ view on man: He can improve himself and create a society based on
justice and freedom
• Puritan view on man: Sinful failure
• Benjamin Franklin didn’t like poetry, saying that writing should always have a practical
purpose
• Franklin invented a type of short prose called a hoax or tall tale
• Before the revolution, there was political journalism
• After the revolution, there were hopeful beginnings in drama
• First American poetic circle: The Connecticut Wits
• First theater: Williamsburg
• First American play: Prince of Parthia by Godfrey
• Thomas Jefferson was influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment. He believed that man did
not have to depend on God to improve the world and could use his own wisdom to improve
himself.
• Timothy Dwight believed that America was a land of happiness while Europe was a land of
poverty and war
• Royal Tyler wrote The Contrast, the first American comedy
Chapter 3: The Rise of a National Literature
• In the early 19th century, New York was the center of American writing
• New York writers were called: Knickerbockers
• The period from 1810 to 1840 is called the Knickerbocker era
• Washington Irving considered feeling and language more important in his art than story or
character
• Transcendentalists were the writers who would bring American literature to world attention
• James Fenimore Cooper disliked the old neoclassical style
• William Gilmore Simms said: “It is the artist only who is the true historian.”
• Cooper was interested in individuals, while Simms described Indian society as a whole
Chapter 4: An American Renaissance
• The Transcendentalists were divided into two groups:
1. Those interested in social reform
2. Those interested in the individual
• Henry David Thoreau said: “Wisdom does not inspect, it beholds.”
• Thoreau’s home became a meeting place for anti-slavery groups
• Ralph Waldo Emerson founded the Transcendental Club
• Emerson said: “My life has been the poem I would write, but I could not both live and utter it.”
• Emerson’s poetry was often criticized as awkward and unmusical
• Seaman’s Friend became the standard work on the law of the sea
• Edgar Allan Poe’s contributions included short stories, literary criticism, poetry, and the
creation of the modern detective story
• Poe’s poetry was focused on sound, not content
• Poe believed poetry should be about pleasure, not truth
• Poe wanted to help develop a national literature for the young country and felt that intelligent
criticism was the key
Chapter 8: At the Turn of the Century
• Brooks criticized Adams’ contempt for the present while loving the past
• At the turn of the century, American novelists and poets were no longer copying British and
European writers
• Thorstein Veblen’s view of the economic system:
• It encourages competition and making money rather than making products
• After making money, people waste it on expensive things to show off their wealth
• Lincoln Steffens wrote: “The struggle for existence is very animal-like.”
• A critic said of Lafcadio Hearn: “He is the only writer in our language who can be compared
with Hans Christian Andersen.”
• H.L. Mencken praised Jack London, saying his work had “all the elements of sound fiction—
clear thinking, a sense of character, the dramatic instinct, and words charming and slyly
significant.”
• Veblen made an important contribution to the growing attack on the capitalist economy and
social system with his Theory of the Leisure Class
• Newspapers and literature from 1900 to 1914 were known as the Muckraker era
• The New York Times called A Municipal Report the greatest American short story
Chapter 9: The Turning Point of American Literature
• Van Wyck Brooks said literary criticism would “sooner or later become social criticism,” and
that the future of arts and literature depended on the complete reconstruction of social life
• Young writers took notice of Brooks’ criticism, leading to the “new realism”
• The first serious American literary study was by Brooks
• In the 19th century, there was a “double standard” in morality—people talked one way but
acted another
• Wharton and Dreiser destroyed the double standard of puritanical morality
• Wharton and Henry James wrote psychological novels about upper-class women
• Dreiser’s real theme in his novels was the purposelessness of life
• Willa Cather disagreed with Dreiser’s criticism of society and believed novels should focus on
the emotional life of the central character rather than social issues
• Ellen Glasgow examined the problem of change
• Edgar Lee Masters began the “Revolt from the Village” movement
• Sherwood Anderson brought the technique of Modernism to American fiction. His simpler
writing style, similar to ordinary spoken English, and his dreamlike use of time influenced
younger writers, who called him:
• “The father of my generation of writers”
• “The only man in America who ever taught me anything.”
• Anderson was better at teaching other writers than writing his own novels
• H.L. Mencken was America’s most powerful social critic in the 20s and hated the middle class
• The 1920s was the decade of the “lost generation” of American writers
• American society did not value its artists and intellectuals, making them feel lonely and angry
Chapter 10: Poetry from 1900 through the 1930s:
• Edwin Arlington Robinson used 19th-century poetic forms to express 20th-century fears and
problems
• Robinson’s poetry often expresses the uncertainty and loss of beliefs of his era
• Robinson believed that man’s fate is wrapped in the “black and awful chaos of the night”
• “Aloneness” is a common theme in the poetry of Robert Frost
• According to Frost, “A good poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.”
• Frost rejected the new free verse style of poetry, saying: “It is like playing tennis with the net
down.”
• Robinson Jeffers used free verse to attack the human race
• Gertrude Stein had her own war with civilization
• Stein never used generalization; she always wrote about the reality directly in front of her eyes
• A critic said about Stein’s language: “It seems to have no past. Things seem to speak directly
and immediately.” This is a modernist element in her writing
• T.S. Eliot & Ezra Pound were traditionalists
• Hilda Doolittle & Amy Lowell were important imagists during World War I
• Marianne Moore loved unusual subjects (monkeys, steamrollers, elephants, snails) and studied
them from strange angles
• Moore’s poems have an anti-poetic spirit
• Imagination is the central idea in the poetry of Wallace Stevens
• Like Pound and Eliot, Archibald MacLeish often used ancient myths for completely new
purposes, making literature of the past part of his own work
• Edna St. Vincent Millay began as a lonely voice of social rebellion in the jazz age of the 20s
• Elinor Wylie was proud of her small clean technique
• In Vachel Lindsay’s later writing, meaning became more important
• Lindsay hoped to give the American people a message and wanted them to see that the
“American Dream” was dying. He wanted them to join him in an effort to restore America to its
original purity, but no one listened to his message
